Who We Are ~ the Anabaptist story

At Menno-Hof we use “Anabaptist” to describe the central beliefs
of those involved in the 16th century Anabaptist movement and members of
three groups Hutterites, Mennonites,
and Amish.

The Anabaptist movement began in Zurich, Switzerland, on January 21, 1525,
when a group of believers baptized adults who made a voluntary confession
of faith.

The word “Anabaptist” means “to rebaptize.” Sixteenth
century Anabaptists rebaptized adults who had received the sacrament of infant
baptism.
This
name was attached to a group of believers who called for voluntary, adult
baptisms at a time when the state called for infant baptism.

The Anabaptists sought to restore the church
to reflect Christendom of the first three centuries after the time of Christ.
They believed the church had been corrupted by state control, which demanded
all citizens be baptized as infants.
Infants upon baptism were registered as citizens while the rebaptized Anabaptists
were persecuted and martyred as heretics by both the government and state church.

Because of their radical views and practices, the Anabaptists were violently
persecuted by Catholic and Protestant authorities who considered their stance
both heresy and treason. Beliefs such as adult voluntary baptism, separation
of church and state, non-violence in all of life which included not taking
part in the military, and the Bible (N.T.) as final authority threatened
the unity of church and state. Unlike today, the political and religious
alliances were knitted very tightly. Their only answer was to attempt to
stamp out this Christian group.

The Anabaptists became the first church in more than 1,000 years to call
for separation of church and state.